Top 111 John Lydon Quotes

Heaven is on this earth. There are no angels on the clouds with twanging harps… That’s just another man’s fantasy.

Love is 2 minutes and 52 seconds of squelching noises.

The so-called alleged ‘art’ of the video – well, the video has killed the radio star, but the video star killed the live musician, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I’d rather give up my ears than my eyes, which might sound unusual for a musician.

One of the most beautiful things about Britain, apart from the NHS and the free education, is the British Army.

I’ve been in very many situations where I’ve not liked the other members of the band or they have not liked me. I grew up presuming that’s the way music was made. It doesn’t need to be that way. It’s taken me years years to find that out.

You’re made to feel ugly, and I made ugly beautiful. Just by sheer persistence. Nobody has the right to say that I am ugly, and I will not be a professional victim, you know. Sorry!

As a young concert-going person, I was never enamoured with celebrities who would walk out to feature in certain songs and then walk off.

I love a bit of flag-waving.

For a gun-toting nation, Americans are surprisingly passive.

You can always wake up on the wrong side of the bed and, boo-hiss, everyone suffers. We can all be temperamental.

There’s nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.

When I write, my brain moves faster than my hands so I’m always trying to picture things.

There’s many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them.

I find Lady Gaga hilarious. And I kind of like her. My heart’s warmed to her.

When you grew up like me and my four brothers, you end up feeling somewhat inadequate, like somehow you don’t count. I was very ill as a child and in and out of hospital. That sort of alienates you, and in my songs I put that to good use.

I’ve never told anyone this. But I suffer from terrible stage fright. True. You can’t tell though, can you? Unbelievable, the panic. I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can’t eat a thing the day before a gig. It’d make me vomit.

Analog, electronic, whatever it happens to be, I simply love and adore literally every aspect of making music.

I love books, and all the best ones are people analysing their own emotions. You can learn from that.

I was brought up and raised in Britain as a Labour man, and that quickly changed. And I find there are more working-class people in the Conservative Party than the Labour party.

Freedom isn’t to do what you want at somebody else’s expense.

My biggest fear is mindlessly and stupidly repeating myself.

I’m in England so often I haven’t really left, but Americans aren’t at all like they’re misrepresented through their politicians.

Just because people think politically different to you doesn’t mean they’re inhuman.

Live music is healthy.

Listen, you know this: If there’s not a rebellious youth culture, there’s no culture at all. It’s absolutely essential. It is the future. This is what we’re supposed to do as a species, is advance ideas.

A record company used to be a very good thing, but they ended up soul-destroyingly trapping people in the accounting department. And you couldn’t get any further, and the heads of each department were changing all the time, so you couldn’t have any permanent relationship within the corporation.

If you give me the chance, I’ll destroy America for you.

I love discordancy. It makes people ill at ease and wakes up a part of their brain that’s normally asleep.

Music can describe emotions far more accurately than words ever can. As soon as I realised that, I knew music was where I wanted to be.

I don’t believe in anarchy, because it will ultimately amount to the power of the bully, with weapons. Gandhi is my life’s inspiration: passive resistance. I don’t want to live in the Thunderdome with Mad Max.

I’ve been asked over the years to compile a list of desert-island discs. I couldn’t do that. If I was trapped on a desert island, I don’t think I’d want 10 songs to bring with me.

Oscar Wilde turned the world upside down and was able to laugh at it, and hopefully by the time I’m 120 and worn out, that’s what I will achieve. I love being alive so much.

I don’t like the monikers, and I don’t like being pigeonholed. You know, I’m a human being.

I love conversation and the sharing of different thoughts and philosophies. That kind of stuff always makes me happy. I don’t mind interviews, either – I like doing them.

Pop music I have always loved best. But the more extreme, fascist-led examples of the music business I tend to detest the most.

Any new ideas go into PiL. My inspiration is everything that the human being gets up to. I don’t listen to any music when I’m in PiL-zone, because influences can poison your well. Otherwise, I listen to anything.

You’d have to be daft as a brush to say you didn’t like Pink Floyd.

Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.

I’m not blowing my own trumpet here, but I made a rap song 20 years ago with Afrika Bambaataa.

My inspiration is everything that the human being gets up to.

I don’t release records to be anything but enjoyable.

I don’t believe in pets. I like animals to be wild and free.

If you can sort out why you feel the way you do then you might be in better shape to meet your maker.

Situationism is a ludicrous proposition. It’s ill-formed and it’s perfectly French. That Gallic disposition towards common sense. L’Anarchie!

I always knew the Sixties wasn’t a revolution. It really was just a bunch of university students with wealthy parents having fun.

If you were to look back at me as a school kid you’d see a very quiet little church mouse kind of character.

Art should be life. It’s an imitation of life. It should have some humanity in it.

You know, I’ve been to some superstars’ houses, and I’ve been really disgusted when I see their platinum discs hanging in the toilet. They’re just there on the walls glaring at you when you’re trying to be occupied with other things.

My words are my bullets.

Britain’s an island; it’s always had a constant ebb and flow of immigration – it makes it a better place.

I’ve never done anything deliberately; I just speak my mind, and that is what I consistently do and will always do in any way shape or form that I can.

I never take any commitment lightly, and I certainly don’t take my wife lightly. I never did and I never will. That’s permanent. That’s true love.

I’ve created several musical trends, really. That’s not because I’m so far out and fabulous. It’s because most bands have no ideas of their own. They’re so desperate they’ll grab at any old straw.

I love Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart because they’re bringing irony back into American humor, which is a delicious treat. The entire Colbert persona of being extreme right-wing when he’s not at all is highly amusing. He does it so well, but sometimes a little too well. My wife is convinced he’s completely that way.

I have one major problem with the internet: It’s full of liars. There doesn’t seem to be any way to answer to people lying about you.

Do what I want, be honest to myself and then it would do good for others, that’s all, full on.

I keep falling off the edge of the stage because I can’t see it. I can’t see my wrinkles in the mirror either, though.

The joy of life is in the work.

I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can’t eat a thing the day before a gig.

I always find the mirror in the dressing room is where the best artists are.

I hate death; it takes people away from you. You’re left feeling rudderless.

The day I run out of ideas is the day I stop making records.

I love being alive so much. When you come out of comas in your childhood, every moment awake is a joyous occasion.

Books are like my one and only joy.

When you grew up like me and my four brothers, you end up feeling somewhat inadequate, like somehow you don’t count.

I’m 100% proud of the TV work I achieved. The work I did on shows on insects and Great White sharks… stuff that’s in school curriculums in England. Now they are showing up on Discovery Channel.

Rules are important, but they’re temporary and they’re always supposed to be changed.

Obama’s dense as a doorbell; not much going on up there – it’s a wooden top.

If I’m left to my own devices, I will be tempted to make the most unlistenable music possible.

You have moments of grief in life, and if you can put pen to paper and capture that, that’s something wonderful. I can revisit actual songs about past deaths, and I know that emotion is as true now as it was then.

I love pop music. It’s not easy to write a good pop song.

Being born into the Royal Family is like being born into a mental asylum. Marrying into it is not something to be taken lightly.

Let’s face it, I ain’t ever gonna be the best singer in the world, or the best anything.

Americans being upright and forthright and honest and true to themselves is a very hard concept.

You’ll find that empty vessels make the most sound.

I applaud the effort it takes to put a record together.

As a human being, I’m work in process.